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Merging Arts and Science Education

Integrating the arts into STEM education can have powerful effects on student performance. According to the National Endowment for the Arts in its 2012 report, "The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth," "Eighth graders who had high levels of arts engagement from kindergarten through elementary school showed higher test scores in science and writing than did students who had lower levels of arts engagement over the same period." Wolf Trap's Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts in Vienna, Virginia, is going full STEAM ahead with a full slate of programs designed to infuse art into the curriculum. Wolf Trap's senior director of education, Akua Kouyate, is leading the organization's charge into the classroom. "If we think historically about how that has always been a part of learning, why would we stop it?" she said. "Why would we deny our children that which will allow them to really contribute significantly in the future?" Here's more about Wolf Trap's Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts: